Yo

Crunch time is over!! I had my first micro exam yesterday and it was... tricky. Moving on, it is Friday and I just want to enjoy the weekend of absolutely NO STUDYING!

I googled "pregnancy photos" this morning because I wanted to see some examples of backgrounds and poses for my sister and I came across this hilarious photo set on Pregnant Chicken. Check it out, seriously it will start your day off right. Actually, that whole blog is pretty amusing and I'm not even pregnant.

I just thought of a career change right now. I want to be the person that sits at Google and goes over the searches that people type in. I have had some of the dumbest searches in Google, as I am sure we all have. My last one I remember I searched for was, "dreams about clogging a toilet". What's more awkward is going on someones computer and finding a strange search in the Google bar. Hot tip: 1. preferences> show cookies > remove all 2. history> clear history

crunch time

I've been and will continue to be MIA until this microbiology exam is over next Thursday! I was fine and dandy until the day before yesterday when a dark cloud of fear and stress hovered over me. Omg, Lia just finished eating and she makes these little noises while doing tricks so I can give her treats and she just made me laugh so hard! Ok, off topic (see what kind of distractions I have to work with!) ... I'd love to know what everyone is doing this weekend, if you're reading and I know you are because of google analytics, tell me what you're doing so I can be jealous. I'll be babysitting all weekend and studying the glycolysis route to ATP and glycerol backbones!!

irritation.com

I don't know the culprit of my irritation but it's probably a combination of getting out of my five hour microbio lecture and lab and coming home to a car blocking my driveway and then realizing I get to spend the afternoon reading about theories and memorizing the biochemistry of cells. Can it just be December 15th today? Lately I have been meeting two of my classmates at 8 am to study for three hours before class which puts in 6 of the 20 hours of studying we should have each week. I don't really put in 14 hours on my own which is really making me feel bad about blogging right now. There's days when I feel pretty bad about where I am with my goals in life and today is one of them. I can't remind myself enough how crappy it feels to struggle through school and find ways to make ends meet financially while managing to keep a smile on my face. I know I can always have it harder but seriously, this is shit. I don't think I can write anymore, the energy is negative and there's no useful tips I can hand off except if you are in a similar situation. Hot tip of the day: screw it all and walk around with your eyes closed, go on a run or bike ride, and scream in a pillow. OH, and I'm eating ice cream later.

I wish it were that easy.

A new addition

This weekend we met a dog that needs a home and spent the day with her yesterday at our house. James loves her already and although I like the idea of having another dog, I'm hesitant because I'm a little scared to take on a large dog. Quinn is a husky and she's about a year old. She's extremely calm and sweet but I have been used to the lap dog for so long now that transitioning to a dog that NEEDS to run everyday is just another thing to add on my list. Maybe I should try looking at it in a more positive way... having to run everyday is beneficial to me, I will be nice and fit all winter long! Ok, bring it on Quinn!!

Languages

I spent the night babysitting for my favorite 12 year old girl the other evening. We spent most of the night studying Spanish and it really brought me back to being in seventh grade and feeling embarrassed about pronouncing Spanish words. I like to think I was not alone when I felt slightly strange making my name, which is clearly not of Spanish background, sound Spanish or better yet saying it with an American accent after doing a perfect accent in Spanish of "me llamo...". Anyone else feel me on this one? Spanish was really an easy subject for me and one of my favorites in junior high. I give a lot of credit to my highly enthusiastic teacher Mr. Caldwell but being that my mother speaks Italian and spoke it to her sisters and her mother, made for an easy transition. My siblings and I always question why we weren't taught Italian growing up? My mother would say phrases to us as kids which we would understand and always mocked her when she was on the phone with her sisters. I really wish we pushed my mom to teach us. When my grandmother passed away my mom said something among the lines of, ".. now I am going to lose my Italian" which really made me sad. My mother grew up speaking Italian and French and it's a big part of our childhood. At family gatherings it was always Italian and French combinations at the dinner table while the kids (we all weren't taught Italian and there was 14 of us) would sit in the other room eavesdropping on our mothers talking about us and then yelling back in English, "I know what you are saying!". It was also a way that my mom could talk to me in front of people without them knowing what she was saying and I cannot count how many times my sister and I always say, "I wish we had a language no one else undestood!". I'm aware people understand Italian, but the chances of someone knowing it where we grew up was pretty slim and if anyone could translate it, it would be the kids who spoke Spanish. As I get older, it's harder to feel OK about my mom not teaching us Italian or French . I know that James feels the same way about the language barrier he has with his mom and her family who all speak Thai. I remember one Thanksgiving we spent with all his mother's friends and family over where the whole dinner we ate in silence because no one spoke English the whole night. I know it's never too late to learn but it's too late in the sense that I'm no longer around my mother everyday to practice with her. Here's a hot tip for bi-lingual parents: teach your child the language! They will appreciate it later... and it's an investment in their future.